This volume addresses the underscrutinised topic of cinema newsreels.
These short, multi-themed newsfilms, usually accompanied by explanatory
intertitles or voiceovers, were a central part of the filmgoing
experience around the world from 1910 through the late 1960s, and in
many cases even later. As the only source of moving image news available
before the widespread advent of television, newsreels are important
social documents, recording what the general public was told and shown
about the events and personalities of the day. Often disregarded as
quirky or trivial, they were heavily utilised as propaganda vehicles,
offering insights into the socio-political norms reflected in cinema
during the first half of the twentieth century. The book presents a
range of current research being undertaken in newsreel studies
internationally and makes a case for a reconsideration of the importance
of newsreels in the wider landscape of film history.